


Goodbye

by ZoneRobotnik



Series: Filling the Blanks [9]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst, Gen, When you can't forgive you must accept
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoneRobotnik/pseuds/ZoneRobotnik
Summary: After the battle with Zhan Tiri, Varian goes to see Cassandra.
Series: Filling the Blanks [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801066
Comments: 41
Kudos: 89





	Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (c) Disney

The battle was won. Zhan Tiri was beaten. Everyone started to pick up the pieces and Cassandra was led inside by Eugene, with Rapunzel following them. She was still weak, didn’t put up much of a fight.  
  
After helping clean up the city, Varian thought he might do her the courtesy of visiting her in prison. After all, _he_ would’ve liked a visitor or two. She would be in a holding cell right now, awaiting trial. He knew where that was, recalled the cold walls, the feeling of iron around his wrists biting at his skin even through the gloves he wore. He rubbed his wrists in response to the memory, as well as a more recent one of tight, unbreakable rocks wrapped around his wrists like hands. Cassandra’s hands.  
  
He didn’t find her in the holding cell, and he stopped short of entering the prison itself, wary of the memories, of his mistakes that waited in a cell for him to come by and be devoured by their words.  
  
If Cassandra wasn’t in the holding cell, where was she? His brow furrowed as he walked up to the guard. “Hey, uh, Pete? Where are they keeping Cassandra?”  
  
“Cassandra? I heard she went to her room to prepare for her trip.” He shrugged.  
  
“…’Trip’?” He breathed, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You mean…her exile?”  
  
“No, just a trip.” Pete shrugged again.  
  
No. This was wrong. He stepped back, shaking his head, and headed off to where he knew her room was, where Juniper had caught Rapunzel during the Saporian takeover. He reached the room and stopped short of the door, his hand hovering over the doorknob. He could hear activity inside of there and humming. He slowly gripped the doorknob and turned it, stepping inside silently.  
  
Cassandra didn’t seem to notice he’d entered. She was changed into a different outfit from what he’d last seen her in, humming as she packed her bags.  
  
“When’s your trial?”  
  
She jolted in place and turned to him. “OH! Varian, you scared me!” She brushed her hair out of her face.  
  
Good, he thought. “When’s your trial?” He asked calmly, his expression neutral even though he wanted to rage at her. A trip? A TRIP? Where was _her_ wallowing in prison for a year? Where was _her_ getting the punishment she deserved?!  
  
“Oh, uh…I’m…not getting one. Actually, I’m not—”  
  
“Not going to prison?” He asked, letting a bit of bitterness slip into his voice. “How lucky for you.” He laughed bitterly. “But, I guess that’s what _happens_ when the Princess picks favorites.” He started to walk towards her.  
  
“There’s a line between the winners and the losers, and a line between the chosen and the rest. And I’ve done the best I could, but I should’ve known where _we’ve_ always stood.” He clenched his fists. “You’ve been _so_ lucky, and I? I had _nothing left_ when I did the _same things you did_.”  
  
He stepped back, looking at her stricken expression. “But, hey…you’re her _best friend_ , and me? I’ve always been _nothing_ compared to you. I wasn’t even worth _your_ time; how could _Rapunzel_ have noticed me?! No, it took me losing my MIND, ATTACKING the KINGDOM and siding with TERRORISTS for her to finally LISTEN to me! And I’ve done my best to redeem myself. I fought the Saporians. I destroyed your horrible _red rocks_ —”  
  
“Y- _You_ did?” Cassandra stammered. “I thought _Rapun_ —”  
  
“I turned them into _amber_ to save the city from being turned into red statues, trapped in their own fear forever! I faced my own fear and saved everyone and they finally, FINALLY saw that I’d changed!” He snapped. “I’ve done SO much to redeem myself, and I’m _still_ working to redeem myself in the eyes of the people, I can’t risk even _one little_ slip!”  
  
He threw his hand out, then, laughing bitterly, pointed it at her.  
  
“But, _you_ …even after _all you’ve done_ , you get away with _everything_. You were loved, and you are _still_ loved. You were never a troublemaker like _me_ , so _of course_ you get away with _everything_ without _any_ kind of punishment! Not for treason, not for attempted murder, not for theft, not for _kidnapping and drugging a minor_ …” His voice was shaking, his whole body was shaking, and he closed his eyes tightly to try to stop the tears that threatened to fall. “You deserve…to be punished. But you _won’t_ be. Because Justice picks favorites.”  
  
He opened his eyes, looking at her with a pained smile. “So, go on, Cassandra. Enjoy your little trip.” He walked towards her and grabbed the Cassandrium hanging around her neck. “Go ahead and take this with, you were planning to anyway. Take it and _remember_ the fourteen-year-old boy that you left to rot in prison while you went off on your _merry adventure_. _Remember_ how _extremely lucky_ you are, because you _never_ had to endure what that fourteen-year-old boy did.” He let go of it and stepped back. “ _Never_ forget, Cassandra. _Never_ forget that you were _always_ loved, and you _threw it away_ and it was _still_ waiting for you when you got back.” He stepped back to the door, never taking his eyes from her. “You _cherish_ those memories of that fourteen-year-old boy who made that for you, because it’s the last gift I will _ever_ give you.”  
  
“Varian.” She walked after him and he bumped against the door, a flicker of fear in his eyes. She stopped, noticing that fear. “Varian, I…I want to apologize.”  
  
“An apology won’t undo what you did. And if you were _really_ sorry, you would be putting yourself behind bars.” He said coolly. “You’re not sorry you _did_ it, you’re sorry you _got caught_. It took being robbed of your power and stripped down to _nothing_ for you to finally realize that I was _right_ , that you were becoming the villain. That you _became_ the villain.” He tensed up, caught between her and a door that opened into the room, not the hallway.  
  
She sighed and reached out to place her hand on his shoulder. He smacked her hand away with a shrill “DON’T TOUCH ME!” and she stepped back, holding her hand. “Varian, _please_. I want to _apologize_ , I want to make things _right_.”  
  
“The time to do _that_ would have been _before_ you beat me with black rocks and shoved me into a cage to sit outside for hours!” Varian snapped. “You know, when I tried to talk sense into you?! I thought, since no one did it for _me_ , maybe _I_ could do it for _you_! Boy, was THAT a mistake! It only pissed you off and you started to hurt me!”  
  
He bowed his head. “But, I guess I _deserved_ it, huh? You gave me _one_ order and I disobeyed it. ‘Don’t do anything foolish’. I guess stopping you from stabbing a painting was ‘foolish’, because you sure went against your ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ statement REAL QUICK after that!”  
  
No, don’t cry. Not in front of her. Stay strong.  
  
“It was all _my_ fault I got hurt, wasn’t it? Because I _dared_ to talk back, I _dared_ to try to talk _sense_ into you.” He groped for the doorknob. He needed to get out of here, the memories were rushing in, crushing him.  
  
Cassandra took his groping hand with hers and he tensed. “Varian…I was wrong. I know. I…I know that _now_. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the Moonstone…it’s pretty powerful. I thought _no one_ could stand in my way, and anyone that _tried_ would be…crushed. And that…that ‘anyone’ turned out to be you. I feel _terrible_ about what I did to you.”  
  
She held his hand in hers tightly, the other moving to his cheek. He was frozen, unable to move, feeling like he was trapped, about to be devoured. He’d felt the same way when Andrew advanced on him after he’d accidentally used a bath bomb on them instead of anything _useful_ , leaned in, whispered “You’ll regret this” and shoved him into the cell with Rapunzel.  
  
“I want to make things _right_.” Cassandra went on, mistaking his petrified state for him listening to her. “I want things to be better between us again.” She gently cupped his cheek in her hand, smiling sadly. “I want us to be _friends_ again.”  
  
He could barely hear her. She rested her hand on his cheek and he felt her black-rock armor against his skin, gripping his face as she told him that he was going to be staying with her a little longer.  
  
“Varian, please. Talk to me, help me make this right.” She pleaded.  
  
“I… _told_ you how.” He said, his gaze focusing on the Cassandrium resting around her neck. “Go to prison for a year…and _face the punishment you deserve_.” Every word felt like he was being choked, she was so close, _too_ close, the _last_ time she’d been this close, she was pinning him against the wall and then used his own sleeping dust on him to knock him out. And then everything that followed…the taste of the truth serum, the pain as he fought to keep the incantation from her, the fear of what she would do to him after…  
  
“I’ve already been pardoned.” She shook her head. “You know, I died in battle, so…”  
  
“Big. Deal. The rest of us died or were dying, too. It doesn’t make our crimes disappear. Just because you fought a demon, it doesn’t undo everything you—”  
  
“Damn it, Varian, I can’t control what Rapunzel decides!” She snapped, and he flinched. “I’m going on a trip to give Corona a chance to recover without worrying about seeing me and to find what my actual Destiny could be. At least you won’t have to _see_ me, isn’t that enough!?”  
  
“It hurts…”  
  
“What?!” She snapped.  
  
“You’re holding my hand too tight.”  
  
She looked at her hand and gasped, letting go and stepping back. “Varian, I-I’m sorry.”  
  
He moved his hand to his chest, rubbing it with the other hand. “No, you’re _not_. You’re sorry you got _caught_. You’re sorry I _mentioned_ it. But, you’re not sorry for _hurting_ me. You never _are_ , and you never _have been_.” He said bitterly. “ _No one_ is.”  
  
“Varian?” She frowned.  
  
He looked to the side. “Why did _I_ apologize, but no one apologized to _me_? Why was _I_ the bad guy, despite being the _victim_?”  
  
“I’m apologizing _now_!” She insisted.  
  
He looked at her sharply and she flinched back, seeing a hint of an expression she’d seen on him before. “But, do you _mean_ it? Or is this just lip-service? You’re saying it, but you’re not _doing_ anything to _prove_ it. At least _Rapunzel_ shows she’s sorry in _actions_ , you don’t even do _that_.” He reached for the doorknob again, but froze at the memory of what happened the last time he tried and pulled his hand away like it had been burned.  
  
Once again, she mistook his fear for a willingness to listen. “Can I do anything, _besides_ going to prison, to prove that I _mean_ it when I say _I’m sorry_?”  
  
He closed his eyes, his hand holding his wrist again. “…No.” He shook his head. “There is nothing else that you can do for me. Nothing else to prove you actually _feel remorse_ for what you did. Not just to me, but to everyone. I spent a year in prison, until Andrew’s allies finally showed up and broke us out.”  
  
“Andrew?” She frowned.  
  
“Andrew of Saporia. He was my cellmate.” Varian wrapped his arms around himself. “I was just a _kid_ , and they put me in a cell with a _manipulative snake_. He didn’t _hurt_ me, no. He just… _manipulated_ me. _Toyed_ with my _mind_ , acted like he _cared_ about me, but all he wanted was my _mind_. Just like everyone else. And then he broke his promise to not hurt anyone. Just like _you_ said you wouldn’t hurt me, _and then you_ _did_.”  
  
He closed his eyes. “I was ready to _kill myself_ to save Corona, to take the airship with the explosive chemical up high above the city and then let it blow up around me. Rapunzel… _saved_ my life, she proved that she was sorry, that she wanted to give me another chance. That she _forgave_ me.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “She _forgave_ me, when I didn’t _deserve_ it. And she saved my life, her _own_ apology. And then she saved my dad, finally keeping her promise. She _proved_ that she was sorry.”  
  
He wiped his tear away and looked at her furiously. “But YOU! You aren’t doing ANYTHING to prove you’re sorry! You’re just giving me lip-service and trying to placate me, you don’t actually feel any remorse for any of it!”  
  
“But, I _do_!” She insisted.  
  
“Then _why_ aren’t you doing anything to _prove_ it?! Why are you just _accepting_ that Rapunzel wants you to get off easy?! Why don’t you _push_ for a punishment, if you _know_ what you did was wrong?!”  
  
She stepped back, silent. He stepped forward, fighting more tears that threatened to fall. “Like I said…you _go_ and _enjoy_ your _trip_. But _never_ forget the fourteen-year-old boy that _begged_ for help and was thrown out into the snow, the fourteen-year-old boy that was vilified and chased because of a false accusation, the _fourteen-year-old_ boy who was _abandoned_ by _everyone_ and single-handedly became the _biggest threat_ Corona has _ever_ faced, all by the use of his mind and _no magic_. You _remember_ him, and you think of the seventeen-year-old that stands before you now, having been through a year of prison and _still_ fighting for acceptance. You _remember_ me, and _never_ forget how lucky you have _always_ been.”  
  
He stepped back to the door and finally found the doorknob, which he turned and opened the door behind him before he left the room, struggling to keep from crying.  
  
It wasn’t _fair_. But, that was how it was. The Princess picked favorites. Justice picked favorites. _Fate_ picked favorites.  
  
And he would never be the favorite of _any_ of them. He was the forgotten child, left alone to be beaten by the abusive other parent, Life.  
  
There’s a line between the winners and the losers.  
There’s a line between the chosen and the rest.  
And no matter what he did, it was never any good.  
He would always be there in the shadows with the Luckless, and Cassandra, Rapunzel and Eugene stood in the light with the Blessed.  
  
And the worst part was that she _ever_ thought she didn’t stand in the light with them.  
  
End

**Author's Note:**

> Cassandra is moving on, and Varian is staying where he has always been.
> 
> ((A/N: I intended to wait until much later to do this one, but I needed to get my frustration about her taking off with the Cassandrium out.))


End file.
